Shane MacGowan, the Pogues frontman who died on November 30, reflected on spending time in Carney Commons in Nenagh, Co Tipperary as part of a 1997 BBC documentary.
MacGowan, who was born in Kent to Irish parents, spent much of his childhood in Co Tipperary and explored his Irish upbringing in the 1997 BBC documentary "The Great Hunger: The Life and Songs of Shane MacGowan."
MacGowan told the documentary that he always regarded the family house in Tipperary as "home," adding that as many as 12 people lived in the house sleeping three to a bed.
MacGowan said that there was no television or running water in the house when he lived there, stating that there was just electric light and the hearth fire to cook on.
"It was basic and beautiful," MacGowan said.
"It was the end of an era that I just happened to catch. And I'm glad I caught it."
MacGowan's mother Therese, who died in a car accident in Tipperary in 2017, told the documentary that she vividly remembered the music played at the house.
"You had music, you had dancing - set dancing on the old kitchen floor - and you had songs," she recalled.
"So he (MacGowan) absorbed all that wonderful traditional Irish music and singing and dancing through his pores when he was at a very formative age.
"It had a tremendous influence on him, on his love of Irish music and his desire, really, to do something for Irish music as well."
In the documentary, his parents discussed having never fully settled in England.
Shane acknowledged: "I didn't have this sort of - someone who's brought up in Ireland til they're 20 or something, you know, is always cursing like the Church and the Christian Brothers and the small mindedness and the gossiping and the sadism and the brutality and all the bad things you can say about our society, you know what I mean?
"All I ever had was sort of happy times."
Shane MacGowan has died, aged 65. In a 1997 BBC documentary, he and his parents reflected on life in Carney Commons, County Tipperary, where he spent some of his childhood. pic.twitter.com/bJfGhsMBv1
— BBC Archive (@BBCArchive) November 30, 2023
Later, in 2001, MacGowan told The Guardian that he was back living in his family's traditional home at Carney Commons.
“My parents were living here and I wanted to come back full time," MacGowan said at the time.
"I was sick of living in London and traveling around. I still travel around the world a fair bit, but I was basically sick of London. I never really liked the place."
Speaking at his home in Carney, MacGowan added: “This is the only fixed address that I have ever had - you know what I mean?”
He continued: “I will stay here for the rest of my life. This has always been my home. However far I wander this is where I belong.
"This is my home this is the only place where I ever lived in and it is where I am living now and it is the last place that I will ever live."
As per RIP.ie, MacGowan's death notice was shared by JJ Ryan Undertakers, which is based in Nenagh, Co Tipperary, leading some to believe that the singer's funeral will take place there.
Tipperary County Council said on Friday that a Book of Condolence will open at each Civic and Municipal District Office in Co Tipperary on Monday, December 4, as well as online at TipperaryCoCo.ie.
Condolences to Shane's family & friends.
— Tipperary County Council (@TipperaryCoCo) December 1, 2023
Books of Condolence will open at each Civic and Municipal District Office in Tipperary from 9.30am on Monday 4 December, will remain open for one week
and will also be available online at https://t.co/sachFt52tG.#tipperary #ThePogues pic.twitter.com/KeUxu1cdmA
Comments